The department wants to increase spending on procurement by 5.6 percent to $107.4 billion for the fiscal 2010 budget, which begins Oct. 1. That increase offsets deep cuts on other defense projects like Lockheed's F-22 fighter jet that were previously announced by Secretary Robert Gates in April.

Details of President Barack Obama's defense budget request – released Thursday – signal a significant shift toward supporting U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan through the use of more unmanned aircraft and other surveillance capabilities.

The Pentagon added $2 billion to its budget for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance projects including more than $1 billion to buy a total of 60 Predator and Reaper drone aircraft built by General Atomics and $1.45 billion for five of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Global Hawk unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles.

In total, the Pentagon is requesting $6.8 billion, excluding research and development money, to buy 30 Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighters – an increase from $3.1 billion and 14 aircraft a year earlier. The Pentagon plans on buying 513 F-35s over the next five years, with a total goal of 2,443 aircraft.

Keeping in line with Gates' plans announced in April, the administration did not request any money for Boeing Co.'s C-17 transport plane or Lockheed's F-22 fighter jet and said it does not have any plans to buy any more.

The Pentagon also included more than $400 million to restart a competition between Northrop Grumman and its rival Boeing Co. for a politically charged $35 billion tanker contract – expected to be awarded next spring. The new planes will replace the Air Force's 50-year old fleet of aerial refueling tankers.

Last year, Gates canceled the competition and called for a "cooling off" period. Northrop Grumman beat out rival Boeing for the deal in February, but Boeing later protested the award.

For its part, the Navy is asking Congress for money to buy eight ships including 2 Joint High Speed Vessels and three Littoral Combat Ships, which will be built by either Lockheed Martin or General Dynamics Corp.

The Army's $142 billion budget includes $21 billion for buying weapons, a 9 percent drop from the last budget.

That includes lower spending on combat vehicles such as the Stryker personnel carrier upgrades of the Abrams tank and plans to cut armored vehicles from the Army's big Future Combat Systems modernization program. The Army also proposes spending less on Patriot anti-missile systems, machine guns and tank rounds.

The budget does increase funding for Army aircraft such as the Black Hawk helicopter and the Chinook cargo helicopter.